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The Sky Is Falling

October 9, 2013 •

As another outbreak of salmonella caused by industrial chicken farming is hitting the country, the City of Beacon is taking steps to make it more difficult to grow your own, including limiting the number of chickens (5), licensing, and heavy fines that include jail time for violations. Here is the introduction to the law:

“The City Council of the City of Beacon recognizes that the keeping of chickens presents a significant threat to the public health, safety and general welfare where such animals are not properly cared for or are kept in large numbers allowing for the accumulation of waste, infestation by rodents, creation of unpleasant noises and/or odors and spreading of disease such that the keeping of such animals on residential property in the City of Beacon should be carefully regulated and monitored.”

The language makes it sound like keeping a few chickens is sorta like having a leper colony in your backyard.
We need to be promoting ways to make our local food supply more abundant and more resilient, not drafting laws that use hysterical language. If you want to see some chicken unpleasantness, check this out:

One Response to The Sky Is Falling

Happy to report that the amended rule passed by the city council is (while more complicated) much more comprehensive and does not discourage responsible husbandry, or put a hard 5 animal cap on flocks.

The reality was that a number of folks in Beacon were keeping birds in a way that was disrespectful to their neighbors, and inhumane to the animals by most standards, and the new rule should bring an end to those issues without impinging on the coops and flocks of owners who have caused no nuisance.